Creative Outdoor Patio Lighting & Curtains DIY + Patio String Light Ideas

Get creative with your outdoor patio. This DIY project added patio lighting and curtains to our outdoor sitting areas without using any electricity. It was done over a span of a couple of weeks (mostly waiting on Amazon) and with a few simple steps we had instant outdoor privacy. I’ve also included some amazing string light pole ideas as well as other options for your outdoor patio lighting. See how it’s done below…

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How to create patio lighting & privacy

This amazing DIY project using plastic Dollar Store whiskey barrels and cedar posts creates instant patio lighting and privacy for two of our outdoor areas. Let’s face it, no matter where you live you can never get enough privacy. Am I right or am I right? 

Using the plastic barrels instead of digging post holes was a great shortcut. They were super inexpensive at around $18 each and gave the patio a rustic look. The original plan for creating privacy was to use drop cloth curtains; however, none of the drop cloths I found were long enough and would have required me to add grommets. Therefore, I ordered my durable, ready-to-go curtains from Amazon. Get the exact curtains HERE.

what fabric is best for outdoor curtains?

• 100% Polyester fabric for durability
• Polyester is water repellant, mildew resistant fabric
• Stainless steel grommets avoid rust outdoors
• Order 2 to 3 times rod width for proper look and fullness
• Make sure they are easy to spot clean since they will be outdoors

step by step tutorial for creating patio light poles

Get your supplies ready. We used the following:

• 4×4 cedar posts
• 8 foot aluminum poles
• metal flanges
• concrete
• wooden stakes
• plastic whiskey barrels
• pea gravel
• Faux Boxwood Wreaths 
• Solar Lights

Supplies available online for Outdoor Patio Lighting & Curtains are listed below

1. First screw on the solar light caps onto your cedar posts and twist on your solar lights as shown.
2. Next, build wooden braces for your poles or alternatively you can use l-brackets to screw them to the bottom of the barrel.
3. Mix up your concrete per the instructions on the bag and pour around the poles into the barrels. Allow to cure the recommended time. 
4. While waiting on your concrete to set, you can add drainage holes to the four sides of the barrel if desired.  I am opting for faux plants, but drainage is always a good thing either way.
5. Once concrete is dry, add a half bag of small pea gravel rock for additional drainage.  Sitting water attracting mosquitos is the last thing you want outside on your patio. 
6. At this point, it’s up to you.  I opted for adding faux boxwood wreaths to my barrel, but you can easily add potting soil and beautiful seasonal flowers to yours. In oder to get the wreaths to go around the poles easily, cut them with snippers as shown.
   

   Close up of layers with pea gravel

   

7. Finally, add your aluminum poles by screwing them in place with the stainless steel flanges. Be sure to do this step in the following order: screw in  both flanges, attach one end of pole, add curtains, attach other end of pole. Optionally, you can tie back the curtains with decorative rope or more practical bungee cords.

Once you hang the curtains, this outdoor patio DIY is in the books! What do you think? Want to spruce up your outdoor patio area with lighting and privacy curtains? Give it a try, you’ll be so glad you did!

Nighttime view of patio lighting

Patio curtains open for privacy

other ideas for patio lighting 

Add string lights to your posts and plant planters like my friend KariAnne at Thistlewood Farms did with this gorgeous patioAnother idea is to add string lights to galvanized buckets with simple poles to light up a pathway like this one below by Homesthetics.

Add outdoor mosquito repelling tikki torches in place of your posts. As seen here placed in the middle of cute decorative planters and add pretty seasonal flowers for an altogether different look to outdoor patio lighting by StonegableBlog

how bright should patio lights be?

Once it’s completely dark outside, it doesn’t take a lot because a little bit of light goes a long way.

Below is a list of recommended LED lumens for specific outdoor lighting:

• Step lights: 12-100 lumens
• Hardscape lights (on walls): 50-185 lumens
• Landscape lights: 50-300 lumens 
• Path lights: 100-200 lumens
• Landscape spotlights: 120 lumens
• Lamp posts: 120-180 lumens
• Pond/pool lights: 200-400 lumens
• Motion sensor lights: 300-700 lumens
• Flood lights: 700-1300 lumens

Most patio lighting is purely decorative, though some lights are added for security. Most often, the lights used for a patio are string lights, outdoor wall lights, post lights or outdoor hanging lights. These lights are typically meant to be less bright, and thus require the use of bulbs that emit less lumens. 100 lumens is considered bright enough for most patios. That is equivalent to about 20 watts. If you have large windows near your patio that let the indoor light out, you may use even less light. 

These are the EXACT Solar Lights we used for our outdoor patio lighting. They were only 10 lumens each, but we used seven of them and they light up the patio areas sufficiently.

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DIY Outdoor Patio Lighting & Curtains

Add solar lighting and durable curtains to your outdoor patio. Additional string light pole ideas to make your patio amazing.

Materials

• 4x4 cedar posts
• 8 foot aluminum poles
• stainless steel metal flanges
• concrete
• wooden stakes
• plastic whiskey barrels
• pea gravel
• Faux Boxwood Wreaths 
• Solar Lights

Instructions

• First screw on the solar light caps onto your cedar posts and twist on your solar lights as shown.
• Next, build wooden braces for your poles or alternatively you can use l-brackets to screw them to the bottom of the barrel.
• Mix up your concrete per the instructions on the bag and pour around the poles into the barrels. Allow to cure the recommended time. 
• While waiting on your concrete to set, you can add drainage holes to the four sides of the barrel if desired. 
• Once concrete is dry, add a half bag of small pea gravel rock for additional drainage.
• At this point, it's up to you.  I opted for adding faux boxwood wreaths to my barrel, but you can easily add potting soil and beautiful seasonal flowers to yours. In oder to get the wreaths to go around the poles easily, cut them with snippers as shown. 
• Finally, add your aluminum poles by screwing them in place with the stainless steel flanges. Be sure to do this step in the following order: screw in  both flanges, attach one end of pole, add curtains, attach other end of pole. Optionally, you can tie back the curtains with decorative rope or more practical bungee cords.

   

Notes